# Dried up lake with giant freighters somewhere in Russia...did I imagine this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2006, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222 "2006-04-04T08:50:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/1 "2006-04-04T08:50:22Z")
I’m just curious if anyone knows where I got the idea that I saw a pretty astonishing picture of a lake that had dried up (I want to say it dried up in a matter of days or something do to a break in a fault) somewhere in Russia or some-stan somewhere… Any idea what I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/2 "2006-04-04T09:19:22Z")
You would be thinking of the [Aral Sea](http://enrin.grida.no/aral/aralsea/english/arsea/arsea.htm), also sometimes called Lake Aral. The water level has been going down for decades, though, as a result of the diversion (for agricultural purposes) of the rivers that used to feed it. The area has become an [environmental disaster area,](http://unimaps.com/aral-sea/) with predictions that the sea will totally dry up if remedial actions aren’t taken soon. [Here are](http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/CTW/AralSeaBoats.jpeg) [a couple more](http://www.osce.org/photo_gal/web_311_948168_1062148121.jpg) images of ships stranded because of the water level drop. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/3 "2006-04-04T10:11:24Z")
There was also the lake that vanished overnight: [http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05/20/RussianLake\_050520.html](http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05/20/RussianLake_050520.html) It’s not a big enough lake to have huge freighters on it. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/4 "2006-04-04T10:29:32Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > There was also the lake that vanished overnight: > [http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05/20/RussianLake\_050520.html](http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05/20/RussianLake_050520.html) > > It’s not a big enough lake to have huge freighters on it. How interesting - I hadn’t heard of this event. Sounds like the mother of all sinkholes. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/5 "2006-04-04T11:47:06Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > There was also the lake that vanished overnight: > [http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05/20/RussianLake\_050520.html](http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05/20/RussianLake_050520.html) > > It’s not a big enough lake to have huge freighters on it. I like how they quote “local officials” as saying the lake \*probably \* vanished into an underground cave system. [Let’s hope so, or else tiime to break out the theremin.] But, I digress. In the mid 80s, a friend of mine was making a cheap, bottom of the line, direct to video if lucky, slasher movie, along the lines of Friday the 13th. At any rate, they were at a lake venue for the taping, and, during the post production, the lake vanished into a sink hole. Finally, something in the movie was scary! hh ---
**Author:** ![The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/6 "2006-04-04T12:35:16Z")
Centuries ago there was a village in a boggy area that wanted to dig a well. For this they dug through layers in the ground, including the waterproof layer that had kept the area wet. Like drilling a hole in the bathtub. Within a few months the whole area had turned to desert. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/7 "2006-04-04T13:03:00Z")
After reading this thread, my hair turned white overnight. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/8 "2006-04-04T18:19:13Z")
As long as we’re talking about disappearing lakes: Lake Peigneur in Lousiana drained into a salt mine one day in 1980 due to poorly conceived oil drilling operations. It refilled over a period of several days. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake\_Peigneur](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Peigneur) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/9 "2006-04-05T17:38:36Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > The area has become an [environmental disaster area,](http://unimaps.com/aral-sea/) with predictions that the sea will totally dry up if remedial actions aren’t taken soon. \ You have to love the first sentence of that site: " Once the world’s fourth largest lake, the mighty Aral Sea is now in it’s death throws." \ ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/10 "2006-04-05T17:54:09Z")
In Soviet Russia, boats stay in lake and water goes in and out! ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/11 "2006-04-06T14:15:40Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > The area has become an [environmental disaster area,](http://unimaps.com/aral-sea/) with predictions that the sea will totally dry up if remedial actions aren’t taken soon. Things seem to be [looking up](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/world/asia/06aral.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) around the edges of the Aral Sea, according to the New York Times. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/12 "2006-04-06T15:52:15Z")
Why is the Aral Sea drying up? Chuck Norris got thirsty. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dried-up-lake-with-giant-freighters-somewhere-in-russia-did-i-imagine-this/351222/13 "2006-04-06T21:12:11Z")
I seem to recall an old article by Isaac Asimov (“Remnants of the Sarmatian Sea”). Basically, the Caspian and Aral seas were once connected. They formed a huge ancient sea that was traversed by an ancient greek traveller-forget his name. the Aral sea is now drying up a a VERY fast rate, because it is shallow 9only about 30 ft. deep), and the Russians diverted all the rivers feeding into it 9the Oxus). I don’t think the Russians have bothered to reverse the situation.